~ Could last into weekend ~
AIRPORT--St. Maarten's aviation sector received what seems to be its annual black eye over the New Year's weekend, with SOL Petroleum and Chevron/Texaco experiencing a fuel shortage at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA).
The shortage is expected to continue until later this week or possibly after the upcoming weekend. Consequently, SOL has been forced to ration its fuel supplies to all aircraft, with the major commercial airlines being designated as priorities for jet fuel. Both SOL and Chevron supply fuel to the airport, but SOL is the lone dispenser of the fuel at PJIA.
St. Maarten is not the only island experiencing fuel shortages and rationing.
The annual, recurring fuel shortage situation can be attributed partly to SOL not having sufficient storage tanks at its Cay Bay facility and PJIA having to make do with its limited fuel storage space as well.
The other part of the equation concerns personnel upheaval at the refinery in Trinidad and Tobago and, reportedly, a combination of shipping and weather problems.
Whatever the reasons for the shortage, operators at the airport lament that instead of making money in the busiest period of the year, they are forced into unbudgeted expenditures.
The scene at PJIA was the same as in the last two years around this period: flight delays, frustrated domestic and private passengers who had to be appeased, and air traffic controllers who ultimately had to deal with the problems the fuel shortage caused.
SOL's challenges in dispensing fuel resulted in chaos and logistical problems at PJIA for fixed base operators (FBOs) that handle private jet aircraft as well as local airline Winair. The latter, already facing financial issues, has been forced to fly to Anguilla to refuel since Saturday. As expected, delays ensued and, according to CEO Michael Cleaver, the airline has been burdened with "huge additional expenses."
Winair's Twin Otters have to make the hop to Anguilla twice daily and then wait in line on that island to be refuelled. Cleaver explained that Winair is obtaining some supply from SOL, but not enough to operate fully. Moreover, he explained, because Winair services destinations with short runways, the planes can't "land heavy" (with maximum fuel) and as such don't even fill up completely in Anguilla.
He said SOL had indicated that the fuel situation would remain as is until mid-January, but all efforts were being made to shorten that period and limit inconvenience to passengers. Cleaver said passengers had been informed of the situation, but "passengers were upset and didn't like to deal with delays."
Major airlines also were affected. A carrier such as Air France will receive its full complement of fuel, considering it has to cross the Atlantic. US airlines were given enough fuel to get them to the US.
FBO companies TLC Aviation and Arrindell Aviation Services by Signature were not spared the negative effects of the fuel shortage. Steven Kong of TLC said the situation continued to give St. Maarten a bad name with operators of private aircraft. He said there were numerous "weak links" at PJIA, but the annual end-of-year fuel shortage was the weakest link by far.
Because major airlines were given preference, private jet operators either couldn't leave PJIA or left and had to stop and refuel on an island that competes with St. Maarten for the private aircraft business.
For example, the pilot of an aircraft carrying a royal prince of a Middle Eastern country became fed up with waiting for fuel in St. Maarten and jetted off to Guadeloupe to be refuelled. Unconfirmed reports suggested that the prince threatened never to park his aircraft in St. Maarten again and would advise business associates of the same.
Veteran aviator and Chairman of Winair's ad hoc committee Michael Ferrier likened the fuel shortage situation to SOL holding the aviation industry hostage. Ferrier, who had warned in the past that having just one fuel dispenser (SOL) at PJIA was a recipe for disaster, contacted Minister Theo Heyliger about the recurring situation in an effort for government/PJIA to move forward with solutions to the "embarrassing situation."
"While there are two suppliers of aviation fuels (AV-Gas and Jet-A) to the PJIA depot (SOL and Texaco), the fact is that only one company (SOL) does all the dispensing, as well as all the controlling of the products. Any pilot, charter operator or airline that needs fuel at PJIA must talk to SOL and SOL alone," Ferrier said.
"My recommendation is for PJIA to offer an alternative fuel supplier that does not source its aviation fuel supply from the same Trinidad and Tobago refineries as SOL and Texaco. I purchase Av-Gas in Puerto Rico all the time, and not only am I sure they do not get their fuel from Trinidad, but I can also confirm that their price per gallon today is US $6.19. SOL's price today (if they have stock) is $8.6944, or $2.50 per gallon more than in Puerto Rico," Ferrier said.
He added that SOL had advised Winair that the airline would not be able to buy fuel from SOL until further notice, as Winair was a Chevron/Texaco client and SOL would sell fuel only to its own SOL clients.
"So Winair, our locally established national airline that has been buying fuel from the only local source for the past 50-plus years, is about to have to ground its fleet and cease flying operations (including cutting off Saba and St. Eustatius from the outside world by air), unless, of course, nearby Anguilla has enough Jet-A fuel for Winair to be able to refuel there.
"This with the added expense to the airline of having to fly all its aircraft on an empty (no passengers) roundtrip to Anguilla just for fuel. With no other dispensing company at PJIA, SOL has us all hostage," Ferrier stressed.
PJIA Operating Company PJIAE Director Regina Labega said, "We definitely need to look at redefining service level agreements (SLAs) on key priority areas and periods of service, including quality standards and price positioning, sharing risk and rewards through a new relationship framework."
Labega said Sol Aviation General Manager Andrew Niles would be coming to St. Maarten on Thursday for a meeting with PJIAE.
Although efforts to reach SOL officials proved unsuccessful on Monday, The Daily Herald understands that the fuel shortage is due to some sort of problem at the refinery, combined with shipping and weather issues. These are the same reasons that have been given for the past two years.
It is also understood that SOL expects a shipment of fuel on Tuesday, which takes a day to be tested and certified in Antigua before it is ready to be dispensed in St. Maarten. In all likelihood, the fuel situation should "normalise" by the end of this week.
Chevron/Texaco's fuel delivery is not expected until January 10.
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